Griswold School Board Approves Board Policies Along with Changes

(Griswold) The Griswold School Board passed the first reading of a series of board policies, including numerous changes. Schools Superintendent Dave Henrichs says one of those changes concerns weapons. He says schools can now allow staff members to carry weapons on district property if they have received the proper training. The Griswold School Board voted not to allow staff members to carry weapons in school.

Henrichs says the law also changed regarding student attendance. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the days in a semester.

According to the law, Henrichs says there is no difference between excused and unexcused.

Henrichs says that a 10-percent mark or 15 percent absenteeism in a semester is considered truant. If that happens, the school and the parents must meet to determine the cause of those absences and develop a plan. From there until the rest of the school year, the school officials must contact that family every week.

Henrichs says there has also been a change in open enrollment. He said for the last couple of years, there was no deadline. The new law changes the deadline to March 1, with a few exceptions. Things called “just cause” would allow an application to be approved after the deadline, such as if a family moved to another district after 30 days, the student can return to their former district.

The other exception is if the student was affected by harassment. The other change is that school districts are allowed to travel to another district to pick up a student who resides within two miles of the district boundary unless the bus is full or it would cause the route to take longer to and from school.